Panel-board.



- L. G. REED.

PANEL BOARD.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 9, 1907.

Patented Apr. 26, 1910.

[NVENTOR 4 Ali-m4. .BV Ll Afiorneys,

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

mnu m WITN .useful Improvements in Panel-Boards;

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LYMAN, C. REED, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA,

YANELr-BOABD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application n'ii'aa mm 9, 1901- serial" No. 387,813.

To all it may concern: Be it known that I, LYMAN,G.;REED a citizen ofthe United States, residing at 'ew Orleans, in the 'parish of- Orleansand State of Louisiana, have invented certain new and I'do herebydeclare the'follo win to be a full, clear, and exact description 0 theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which-itappcrtains to make and use the same.

My invention. relates to improvements in panel'board construction,wherein a special arrangement of themain bus bars and branch bus-bars inconnection with the usual switches and fuses is provided.

The object of my invention is to provide suitable supports for elevatingthe two outer bus-bars beyond the plane of the middle bus bar, and tothereby enable the said outer bars to be brought closertogether, panelboard made narrower, than has heretofore been possible, and for anobject more fully disclosed hereinafter.

A further object of my invention, is to produce an improved form ofcombined fuseclip and busbar connection, whereby the construction of thepanel board is greatly simplified.

.1 Referring to the accompanying drawings forminga part of thisspecification :Fig-

I ure .1 is a plan view of'iny prnel-board, ar-

ranged forthe ordinary system of bus-barring commonly employed in wiringsystems, "an F 1g. 2 is'an end View thereof. Fig.- 3

represents a fragmentary end View of my panel board provided with myimproved comblned fuse clip and bus-bar; connection.

Fig; 4, a plan view-of the improved double fuse'clips connected to thebus-bar c, and Fig. 5, a like view of a simple clip and supportconnected to the bus-bar d. -Eig. 6 is a plan view of a single clipandsupport dc tached, and Figs. 7 and 8 edge and side elevational viewsof the same. Fig. 9;is a

- plan view of the sheet metal blank out of which; 1' form the combinedbus barsupport and fuse .clipdisclosed in Figs. 5, 6,7 and 8. Fig. 10.isa like view of the blank out of which I form the clips shown in Figs.8, 4,

11, 12,-and-13. Fi 11 shows theseclips in 'lan; Fig. 12 in si'eelevation, and Fig. 13' in end elevation. Like letters ind1cate likeparts in all the views, l,

a represents the base (army-panel board,

' employin shaped,'as shown, and t ve length of these and the whole.

clued-- to which may be made of any suitable material, but slate ispreferred, and b, c and d,the bus-bars of an ordinary three wire system,

either direct or alternating 'cur- 6 rents. T 1e outer busbars b and d,instead of lying in the same plane as the middle bar 0, as heretofore,are mounted on the preferably, integral sup orts i andj, U'G

5 supports is such that the'neces'sary insulating distance from themiddle bar 0 is secured, while their outer edges represent the minimumdistance that can be used underthe established rules of the UnderwritersBureau. The 'said middle bus-bar 0 is mounted in the same position as iscommon in panel boards in general use, but by raisin the outer bars-"bar d d,, as' abovef describe into a plane above the plane inwhich thebar 0 is placed, they may. be brought much closer together thanheretofore, without sacrificing any insulating space;' and'therefore thewhole board can be made -narrower than has been possible in the.old-boardsr This feature of narrowing my board, .constitutes animportant feature of myinvention, in that by making the board narrower,I not only reduce the cost, but Iam'enabled to locate standard boards ofmy'make' between the fianges of beams, and in other outof-the-way placesabout modern stee'l bu'ijld ings, that it is desirable to use, which arenow incapable of use for such purposes. The reason why otherboards-cannotbe-so located is found in the'faot that the insula tionrequirements of the standard board. now used'compelthe same tofbezit-"leads a certain number of inches WidQ,-al 1d= the fore, spacesbetween the flanges ofbe I s, ctc., too narrow for such boar'ds calm' jbe used for their accommodation. 'Wit-h' niy' boards, on the other hand,while' comply g fully with all "the under-writers? require- 1nents,fIcan make them suificiently'na-rro wv m to locate them in such places,and th' 'eby get them out of sight, and out ofthe w .In the drawingsr erepresents the clips, f, the fuses, and g the switches wi insulatinghandles it, all ofthe' usual-q struction, and all occupying the-samespace, but accommodated on 'a narrower basethan heretofore.

' rt-represents a branch bus-bar, joined-t6. the middle-bar 0,", and thedistance-between; t e-bus=bars b and d and the-fuse c this branch bar n,

cupy waste places' between the, flanges of he s that at present cannotbe occu iedat all 'd which are especially suited or my ,inthattheyaiford very'co'n i eaj wires, etc.

supports 6 and j for I and d, as above stated,but it is evident thatthis is not emp'lo ed. v

In igs. 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, I have shown a modified and improvedsupport 2 for the bars I) and'd, which has integral therewith the fuseclips p. These supports Z are formed from the T-shaped blank shown in IFig. 9, as provided with the'wings 0. These blanks are struck out ofsuitable sheet metal, and perforated with the two holes shown, they arethen bent up into the form shown in Figs. 7 and 8, providing. the clipsp, and. the supports for the bus-bars b and .d:"

e bars are secured theretoand the clips securedin pIace as shown inFigs. 3 and 5, It will thus be seen by this cheap and simple device, Iam not only enabled to elevate the bars 6 and d, above the bar c,, butat the same timeI avoid making a joint between the, fuse clips and thesupports for the said; bars Z) and-d, thus saving both timeandfimaterialy he connection between the fuse 'clips anduthe'bar c, isequally sim le, and is shown in Figs. 3, 4, 10, 11, 12 an, 13. Here,the' double T-shaped blanks, shown in Fig. 10, and haying the wings134', joinedby the body portions g, are ikewise struck out of sheetmetal, suitably erforated and their wings r 'rbent u to orm the clipsp,as The busar e is secured to the same, and the clips secured 'in place,as

, placed are of the usual construction and tlieimainj novelty resides inproviding the elevatec'l the outer bus-bars tn;-

sl the only'structure that may be ner or middle bar toafiord a standardinsus own In Figs}; and t. Here aga n by an "dingly simple and cheapdevice -I am to join opposite fuseflclips with the ussba-f and avoid-theuse of joints figs-themselves. jolesdevice, it will be seen is ex- ;cenglysim'ple, eh 'agp to construct, easy to I :as, le', and=certairiijnaction, besides it en- ;gable's nie tosotnarrow theboards'as to oc-'above the" third, a; series-of. fuse .nec'tions' between opposite pa andbus-bar connection, composed of "clips; substantially as. described.- r;

not limit iny n s of do t n cli s, b len' henin the sup orls, mi in m p:ibov the hill 0, so that the lioanl may be still further narrowed, ands1 ill preserve its, proper insulating distances. And again, I mayemploy my board for a two WIIB system, by slmply removing the bar 0 andsuitably connectmg the bars I) and cl to branch bus-bars by means ofsupports 1' an 4.

', Qther changes will readily silggest themfives to' those skilled inthe art.

"Having now described my invention, what ainrand desire to secure byLetters Pats'z v.

-1". In a anel board provided with the usual -switc ms and fuses, thecombination with three bus-bars, of su orts for the two outer bars, of alength nt to raise the same 'a distance above the plane of the inlatingspace between each of said outer bars and said middle bar, substantiallyas de r 2. A panel boardrovided with two outer bus-bars and-"a mid withsupports for said outer bars of such a dle bus-bar, combined length asto raise them a distance above said mi dle bar sufficient to provide astandard insulating space between said outer and said middle bar, andsaid supports secured a distance apart sufiicient to prdvide a standardinsulating space between said outer bars, substantially as described. v3. A and board provided with a plu ra'lity' o bus-bars, and fuse clips,and with a branch. busbar, and suitable supports for two of saidbus-bars raising them .in a plane above said 'fuse clips above a thirdbus-bar and'above said branch bus-bar, a suificient distance to providestandard insulating spacesbetween said raised bus-bars and said fuseclips and said other bus-bars,substan-V tially asdescribed, v w 1' In apanel board the combine three busbars, two o which are" supportsforfsaid elevated bars inte' some of ,s'aid fuse clips, and

th'e other of said clips joinin sm bus bar, substantially as descri ed,

5. In a panel board, a combined in of sheet In gle, integral pieceshaped, and of a length insulating spaces between the said 'b In a panelboard, a combined and bus-bar connectiomcom se iece of-sheet" meta 01:6"in I a setojjf uses'nnd switches, of three buscombined integra sheetmetal fuee ciips and connections for said third bar-,isubstantially asdescribed.

8. In a distributing or Switch paiiel an insulating base, a terminal orbus-bar eleveted above the surface of said base, a terminal orbus-barlocated in proximity to the surface of said base, a transverse'bar 1nproximity to the surface of said base and connected v directly with theloweterminal bar; and a second transverse bar in proximity, to thesurface of the base, having an integral upturned end and an integraloverhanging portion extending. beyond the lower and upturned portionsofsaid transverse bar of which it is :1 art, and secured toeaid elevatedterminal m; in order that maximum air-space and maximum linear distancesbetvgj'een the terminal bars and their 811 pprts jiiie'obtained; .25

my -c.

In testimony .whereog I afiii" ture, inzpresenee of two witnesses.; vLYMAN CQREED. Witncsasz- Tnos. J. WHITEHEAD i W; .J. BBIN-KMANN, Jr.

